HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — It's been almost 56 years since Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. And the federal holiday to honor his legacy is Monday.
An event at the University of Alabama in Huntsville, is reflecting on his work as a civil rights activist.
The keynote speaker, Lisa McNair, shares her family's first-hand experience with the movement.
"Almost exactly a year from the day that she was killed, I was born," McNair said while talking about her sister.
Her older sister Denise McNair (11), died on September 15, 1963, after Ku Klux Klan members planted dynamite at the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham.
Three other young girls were also killed from the bombing: Addie Mae Collins (14), Cynthia Wesley (14), and Carole Robertson (14).
This event became a turning point in history, "because little kids were killed…and people were like, wait, wait, wait. This has just gone too far," McNair said.
The bombing led to a groundswell of support to end segregation and ultimately to the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
McNair tells us that even though her parents lost their oldest daughter, they did not give up on humanity.
"They just knew that most people are loving and kind and giving and they reached for the better part of humanity," McNair said.
Now she's written and published a book detailing her experience growing up during that time - it's called Dear Denise: Letters to the Sister I Never Knew
"I think there are people all over this country who've gone through what I've gone through and there's nobody that's really given a voice to it," McNair said.
So, she's using her voice to leave the same legacy both MLK preached, and her parents passed down to her.
"I want us to think more about our own humanity to one toward another and be kinder, be more loving, be more respectful," McNair said.